


you look like new years

by orphan_account



Category: SHINee
Genre: Agender Jinki, Asexual Character, Asexual Jinki, Demigirl Minjung, Genderfluid Kibum, I'm just going to list all their genders here, Multi, New Year's Eve, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Taemin, Oh and Also, Other, Trans Character, Trans guy Jonghyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 15:10:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9129844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Somebody has to kiss me right now!” Jonghyun announces suddenly, asserting himself in between Minjung and Kibum. “For good luck."(ot5 spend New Year's Eve together)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Secret Santa fic for orgel-ontae on tumblr! I really hope you like this. also I hope I didn't worry you by waiting till the last day to post your fic, but I wanted it to be time-appropriate. also happy new year!
> 
> I definitely went heavier on the trans/nb part of the request than the neurodivergent part; I hope that's still okay
> 
> (side note taemin uses "boyfriend" with jinki even tho jinki's not a boy bc they're cool with the term okay I make the rules here)

Jonghyun won’t stop picking at his sweater. There’s already a hole in the design where he’s pulled off some of the sequins (although Jinki supposes that could be shitty craftsmanship--they weren’t the most expensive Christmas sweaters) and it doesn’t look like Jonghyun’s going to stop until the entire thing is sequin-free.

Jinki can’t really blame him, either--he definitely pulled the worst sweater from the set Kibum insisted they all wear. Granted, Taemin’s light-up monstrosity with the reindeer might be worse from a style point of view, but whatever the sequined sweater is made of felt like some kind of woolly nightmare and Jinki had put it back as soon as they’d touched it earlier. Their own sweater isn’t too bad, all things considered; it’s an ugly shade of green but at least the snowflake pattern is only stitched onto the front. And nothing lights up.

“Guys! Hurry up!” Minjung calls over her shoulder from further up the sidewalk. She and Kibum are a good ten feet ahead of Jonghyun and Jinki, Taemin close at their heels. Taemin always makes fun of them for lagging behind the others, and Jonghyun always tries to defend himself by saying he and Jinki are too old to keep up. “Five minutes till midnight!”

“How much farther do we have to walk?” Kibum asks, and Jinki’s impressed that she hasn’t had to stop or just toppled over into the street yet. She’s not that drunk (although she did break out the wine a bit early) but she insisted on wearing a pair of heels that made her taller than Minjung. The two of them are walking hand-in-hand, mostly to be cute but at least partially to make sure Kibum doesn’t fall over on the icy sidewalk.

It’s dark, but under the orange-toned streetlights Jinki sees Taemin shrug. “Last year Jongin and I were watching from the end of the street.” Watching the fireworks, they mean. Apparently there’s a yearly fireworks show a few blocks from the apartment Jinki’s lived in since their sophomore year of college, and in all this time no one thought to inform them. Well, until now. “We can just stop there.”

“Let’s go, then!” Kibum says, swinging her and Minjung’s hands wildly and pulling Minjung into a kind of stumbling jog. Taemin laughs and Jonghyun echoes them from behind, still pulling at his sweater.

Jinki glances over at Jonghyun, catches his eye. “You okay?” they ask, nodding down at the sweater Jonghyun’s trying to destroy. They can see another thread coming loose, and it’s only a matter of time before another row of sequins is lost to the snowy street forever.

“Huh?” Jonghyun says absently. “Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. This is just the worst sweater ever.”

“You can take it off when we get back to the apartment,” Jinki says, voice lowered slightly in case Kibum hears. Small chance, since she’s now loudly engaged in some conversation with Taemin about Jongin.

“Trust me, I will,” Jonghyun says firmly, reaching around to scratch at the seam of the sweater briefly. “It’s just...it’s so scratchy? And it was sticking to my binder when I put it on, so I had to keep pulling at it, and now I guess I’m just doing this forever,” he says with a shrug. One of the sequins finally comes loose and drops off in his hand.

Jonghyun looks a bit crestfallen, suddenly realizing he’s destroying the HO HO HO written across the sweater, but Jinki just shakes their head fondly. They reach into their back pocket, pretty sure the hair tie they keep around for emergencies is in there, and retrieve it after a moment. It’s faded pink and slightly metallic, and has definitely seen better days, but it’ll do.

“Here,” Jinki says, taking Jonghyun’s free hand--the one that isn’t trying to destroy the sweater--and pressing the hair tie into it. “So Kibum doesn’t notice you destroying her sweater.”

Jonghyun studies the hair tie for a moment before slipping it onto their wrist with a small smile. “Thanks, Jinki,” he says, reaching out to take their hand again, squeezing briefly. Jinki’s thankful Jonghyun still remembers to drop their hand after a moment. Jonghyun’s always been a physical person, and Jinki’s not the best with touches, but Jonghyun always seems to remember that when it comes to Jinki. They all do.

Jonghyun’s mood seems to have picked up now that he’s not bent on ruining Kibum’s holiday spirit; he picks up the pace to catch up with Kibum and Minjung, linking arms with Minjung when he gets close enough and leaning on her shoulder. They’re cute together, Jinki thinks fondly, watching Jonghyun twist the hair tie around his wrist absently.

They almost don’t notice Taemin falling back to walk alongside them until the obnoxious red and green glow from the sweater gives them away. How Taemin walks that quietly is still a mystery to them after all this time.

“How are your mom duties going?” Taemin asks with a smirk, nodding towards Jonghyun and his rescued sweater.

“Fine,” Jinki says, barely registering the fact that Taemin just called them a mom. It’s fitting, they suppose.

“Did you bring that because you knew you’d need it or did you just get lucky?” Taemin asks.

“I’m just magic,” Jinki says with a grin.

“You’re just a good boyfriend,” Taemin shoots back, and Jinki feels their heart flutter, even after all this time.

None of them really thought it would work out in the beginning, dating four other people at once, and maybe Jinki thought that most of all. They just couldn’t imagine a scenario where they’d get to stick around for the long haul, not when they couldn’t offer anything physical to the relationship, and maybe that was why they launched themself into taking care of everyone, of mediating, of making sure the relationship went as smoothly as it could. So that it would survive even without them.

But it’s been a year now, more or less. And now Jinki’s starting to think that maybe none of them could imagine a scenario that Jinki wasn’t a part of. That maybe when Jonghyun says he loves them or Taemin falls asleep on their shoulder or Minjung saves them the last little bit of ice cream, it means something lasting.

Taemin doesn’t need to hear all that now, though, so Jinki just says, “I suppose.”

A sudden shout from Kibum pulls Jinki out of their own thoughts, and they’re turning to where she and the others have stopped on the sidewalk. “We can see them from here, right?” she asks excitedly, pointing at a low point between the buildings where the stars are coming through. It’s a perfectly clear night for fireworks, Jinki thinks.

“You’re sure they’re setting them off from that direction?” Minjung asks, glancing over at Taemin. “Isn’t that all houses?”

“Did I say they were legal fireworks?” Taemin asks, and Minjung laughs, shaking her head. A moment later she’s being pulled forward by Jonghyun, who’s still trying to help Kibum locate the perfect firework-viewing spot, and Jinki’s wondering if maybe they should intervene before Kibum falls over, or at least find them all a patch of grass to sit on while they watch--

And suddenly Taemin’s leaning in, planting a kiss on Jinki’s cheek that would be obnoxious if it were anyone but Taemin. They pull back almost immediately, but they stay hovering near Jinki, expectant.

“What was that for?” Jinki asks, jostling Taemin with their shoulder playfully.

“For taking care of us for an entire year,” they say simply, and Jinki feels his cheeks flush in the cold air.

There’s a distant bang in the air, and Jinki watches the light from the first firework spark red across Taemin’s cheekbones.

“Happy New Year!” Kibum shouts, and Taemin echoes her with a smile on their face just as the second firework explodes purple and green into the sky. The next one is white as it fizzes across the sky, joined by another that flashes blue and red, and soon there’s a stream of colored lights falling around them as the firework show picks up. People are cheering from somewhere, probably the other side of the building, and Jinki hopes vaguely that those people are as happy as they are.

“Somebody has to kiss me right now!” Jonghyun announces suddenly, asserting himself in between Minjung and Kibum. “For good luck. You already missed midnight so we don’t have a lot of time.”

Minjung rolls her eyes, but she still wraps an arm around Jonghyun’s shoulders and pulls him up for a kiss. It only lasts a couple of seconds before Kibum is tugging at her sleeve, though, forcing her to turn, and then Jinki’s watching the three of them squabble among themselves over who’s going to kiss who first.

Watching Jonghyun pout is entertaining enough that Jinki doesn’t see Taemin turn, but they’re pulling Jinki in for another peck on the cheek, softer this time but no less sweet.

“ _That_ was your good luck kiss,” they say. Jinki just grins at them.

**Author's Note:**

> comment and tell me what y'all thought or else we'll have a shitty 2017
> 
> (I'm kidding)
> 
> (but please comment anyway)


End file.
